Heavy snowfall – Heavy snowfall pushes SBB to the limit in Ticino – News

• Heavy snowfall in Ticino pushes the SBB to the limit.
• It is no longer possible to maintain rail traffic on all systems, the rail company announced.
• Road traffic is also slow, if at all.

Long distance traffic runs completely at the end of operations. However, SBB has to reduce the regional transportation schedule, as it writes. It installed a shuttle concept on the Erstfeld-Bellinzona, Bellinzona-Locarno and Giubiasco-Chiasso routes. This ensures that travelers get from A to B. This concept should be applied initially until the end of operations.

In the last hours, up to a meter of snow fell locally in Ticino and the southern valleys of Graubünden. Due to the snow masses in parts of Ticino and Graubünden, the federal government has declared the second highest avalanche alert level.

According to SRF Meteo, the heaviest snowfall is expected at night from Friday to Saturday. Locally, up to a meter and a half of fresh snow is possible.

The constant snowfall also led to poor road conditions south of the Alps. According to Viasuisse and TCS, the A2 in Ticino was closed to trucks in both directions in the afternoon. Several main roads in Ticino had to be closed, as did the section of the motorway between the Bellinzona-Süd service area and the Monte Ceneri tunnel. Occasionally sections of the road were interrupted due to landslides or downed trees. In Lugano, snow chains were mandatory in some places.